Bound within
you keep your worlds,
riddle-inked
and layered paper-thin,
guarded by
librarian loyalty
until your words
are ferociously freed
in prose of verse:
the nightshade burning veins
or blossom-scent in spring.
With your magic you can
tumble towers,
wage wars
or bring butterflies to ash.
You are passion,
lies and facts
both perpetrator and messenger,
the victim’s friendless voice,
the ruler’s rules.
but you are bound bound
until I’m dared
to read!
This is an apostrophe written for Amaya at dVerse. The aged librarian talking to his books.
—
December 5, 2019
Björn Rudbergs writings 
There are some amazing descriptives here Bjorn. Truly wonderful.
I always feel as if I know your librarian, Björn! Perhaps I’ve met him and didn’t realise. He reminds me of Sourdust, the librarian in Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast. A wonderful apostrophe, with imagery that will be hard to forget, such as ‘riddle-inked’ and ‘the nightshade burning veins / or blossom-scent in spring’. I love that the books have magic to:
‘tumble towers,
wage wars
or bring butterflies to ash.’
“Bound within
you keep your worlds,
riddle-inked
and layered paper-thin,”
I simply adore the microscope you used to work your magic. I also love the dual use of bound.
I love the contrast between the bound books and the dazzling worlds they contain. There’s a real shift in energy there.
A very clever use of the prompt, and very effective. Your word-smithing is off the chart, as noted. Another visit to the aged librarian is always a literary an\d emotional treat.
Love the ferociously freed words
This is just so clever! I love how you touched on the manifold applications and faces that a book has, and then that the entirety of a collection then has. This was especially potent,
“ the victim’s friendless voice,
the ruler’s rules.”
And I suppose there is no way to do the second part of the challenge, as the books plainly speak for themselves, addressing us, forevermore!
This is a great opening line!
Bound within
you keep your worlds,
riddle-inked
and layered paper-thin,
I am deeply taken by your poem, Björn. You blind us almost with your
vivid imagery which doesn’t falter at any stage.
You put us there, with the librarian and all the books. Feeling the strength and also entertainment they contain. The danger and the positive.
Miriam
You are passion,
lies and facts
both perpetrator and messenger,
the victim’s friendless voice,
the ruler’s rules.
Powerful words!
I like the thought of books being bound until one’s dared to read.
Always a worthwhile conversation (I especially like “riddle-inked”). (K)
All of this, and more, held on pages no more substantial than leaves, yet able to bring worlds to life.
So very true. Excellent poem
Beautiful.
Wonderful! And aren’t all poets book-lovers? (As well as your aged librarian … and this-here aged ex-librarian.)
What the academics call it — intertextuality — books talking to books, of which we are the somewhat free agents. The “bound bound” in the penultimate line is puzzling — double-bound, as in locked on shelves until the reader freely lifts them?
I love this. And the books talk back! 🙂
I love the thought of the books bound until opened by a reader. So glad the aged librarian is back!
Of course, as a lover of book,s this poem speaks to me.
“You are passion,
lies and facts
both perpetrator and messenger”
Frozen in time
until freed by a reader.
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